Expert panel takes first crack at reforming DoD acquisition system

The advisory panel Congress established to help streamline the Defense Department’s acquisition system said last week that DoD should be allowed to eliminate more than a dozen different legally-mandated offices and positions within its bureaucracy, cease the annual publication of at least 20 reports to Congress that are of questionable value, and repeal 165 government-unique contract requirements as some of the first steps toward bringing more agility to the department’s procurement of goods and services.

Starting in 2008, whenever new legislation or regulation debuted that affected government contracting, it was written on a band-aid and stuck to a golf ball.

The suggestions were among a sweeping set of recommendations the group of experts, known as the Section 809 Panel, made in the first volume of its final report following more than a year of study, public testimony and private interviews with government and industry personnel. It intends to send Congress two additional volumes within the next year.

The panel emphasized that removing the statutory requirement for certain DoD offices wouldn’t necessarily eliminate them, but would give the Secretary of Defense the ability to reorganize the department as he or she sees fit. Some of the organizations the report targets for potential elimination: the Office of Corrosion Policy and Oversight, the Office of Technology Transition and the the office of Performance Assessment and Root Cause Analysis along with the executive agent for printed circuit boards and small business advocates within each of DoD’s audit agencies.